Careers After Erasmus: Interview with Jack from The Erasmus Bible!

After his Erasmus experience, Jack decided to start The Erasmus Bible, which is an amazing project indeed! It complements other initiatives dedicated to students living their semester abroad. If you still don’t know him or what he does, keep on reading…

Why did you decide to start The Erasmus Bible?

I decided to start this project one year after my Erasmus, in September 2015, even thought I started to work on it only in January. That’s when I realized I wanted to travel more and I knew that a lot of people were in my situation. At that time I was a lot into travel blogging, so I thought “Why not starting a sort of travel blog dedicated to Erasmus students?”.

There are a lot of local organizations out there, especially ESN, that do an amazing work for international students but I thought that something was missing online from a global point of view.

Source: Jack from The Erasmus Bible

Where did you go on Erasmus? What was the best part of your experience?

I did my Erasmus in Alicante, a city in the South-East of Spain. It is a perfect destination for international students! It’s located on the coast and it has a warm climate even in the winter, so my friends and I were able to enjoy every single moment. It’s really hard to study there, there are so many distractions! But I think it’s part of this experience.

I met hundreds of students and a lot of them have become some of my best friends. It was amazing that everyone had his own story to tell, his own background. I love listening to other people’s stories and learn from them. You can’t always do that if you live in the countryside like I do.

I also traveled a lot. I went to Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia, Ibiza and many other small towns… I think I spent 20% of my total budget on traveling!

What advice would you give someone who has just arrived to a new country?

Make new friends as soon as possible! Usually, ESN sections organize a series of welcome events, I think that’s the best way to get to know new people from all over the world. The rest will come!

Another important thing… Don’t let the lack of money ruin this experience, seriously. I saw a lot of people refusing to try new things because they thought they were costing too much for their pockets. It happened to me, too! Obviously, the majority of us are not rich, but think about it… The more things you try, the more you learn and the more people you know. That leads to have more opportunities in the future. Basically, you’re investing in yourself, which is really important today! Honestly, those 10-20€ you can save by staying in your flat won’t change your life…So, get a small job and save money before going on Erasmus, not during this experience!

Source: Jack from The Erasmus Bible

Is the sentence “Once Erasmus, always Erasmus” true? Would you recommend the experience to all students?

Yes, it’s 100% true.

To me it means that once you experience something like this, you know that living out of your comfort zone helps you improving yourself. You’re on Erasmus for this reason, not just to learn a new language or to learn how to cook.

I think that after the Erasmus you can’t stop looking for new challenges. So, to me this sentence is a way to say “Keep improving for the rest of your life, keep the Erasmus mindset”.

What can you tell us about the future of The Erasmus Bible?

If you visit my website, you can find some useful resources for Erasmus students or travelers. If you visit the Facebook page, you can see mostly funny posts and pictures. If you visit my Instagram profile, it’s more focused on traveling. The truth is that being Erasmus is all of this.

As I said, The Erasmus Bible is in its building phase, but I want to create something huge. Something that will offer you a great value whether you’re 19 or a 30 years old former Erasmus student.

Source: Jack from The Erasmus Bible

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